units of measurements

This topic has expert replies
User avatar
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Feb 23, 2018 10:51 am

units of measurements

by phynessa33 » Fri Feb 23, 2018 11:00 am
does anyone know which units of measurements are covered in the GMAT test? $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
Elite Legendary Member
Posts: 10392
Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pm
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Thanked: 2867 times
Followed by:511 members
GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Mon Feb 26, 2018 3:18 pm
Hi phynessa33,

Unit conversion is certainly something that you will have to deal with in the Quant section of the GMAT (and sometimes in IR section). You are expected to know certain 'standard' units, such as days --> hours --> minutes --> seconds and dollars --> cents ($1.00 = 100 cents). In certain prompts, information on specific types of measure are included in the question (for example 1 mile = 5,280 feet or 1 meter = 100 centimeters is information that many people don't necessarily know, so a question that REQUIRES that type of conversion will often include the needed equation).

If you wanted to familiarize yourself with some additional measurements, then you might find it useful to know:
1 yard = 3 feet
1 foot = 12 inches
1 kilometer = 1000 meters
1 meter = 100 centimeters = 1000 millimeters

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
Image

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 2095
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:22 pm
Thanked: 1443 times
Followed by:247 members

by ceilidh.erickson » Thu Mar 01, 2018 4:32 pm
phynessa33 wrote:does anyone know which units of measurements are covered in the GMAT test?
The GMAT will assume that you know units that are globally standard:
TIME: seconds --> minutes --> hours --> days --> months. (e.g. a problem that states "in each month last year" will expect you to know that there are 12 months).
MONEY: 100 cents --> dollar. Ok, US currency isn't really a global standard, but they assume everyone knows this. They won't ask about fractions of other currency.

For other measurements, the GMAT will NOT require you to know any non-metric systems. You will see problems written in Imperial measurements (miles, inches, degrees Fahrenheit, etc), but if you're being asked to convert from one to the other, the GMAT will give you the formula for conversion, as Rich mentioned. They'll likely even give you the conversions for metric: grams to kilograms, etc.

Besides knowing your metric system prefixes, I wouldn't bother memorizing any unit conversions.
Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education